| Date of birth: | December 31, 1972 |
| Place of birth: | Tucson, AZ |
| Career information | |
|---|---|
| Position(s): | Placekicker |
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Weight: | 195 lb (88 kg) |
| College: | USC |
| NFL Draft: | 1995 / Round: 7 / Pick 247 |
| Organizations | |
| As player: | |
| 1995-1997 1998 |
Oakland Raiders Buffalo Bills |
| Playing stats at DatabaseFootball.com | |
Cole Ford (born December 31, 1972) is a retired American football placekicker in the National Football League. He was born in Tucson, Arizona and is the son of AlphaGraphics founder Rodger Ford.
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Ford attended Sabino High School in Tucson, where he played for the Sabercats football team.
Ford played college football at the University of Southern California.
He was drafted in the seventh round (247th pick overall) of the 1995 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers.[1] Ford played between 1995 and 1997 for the National Football League's Oakland Raiders. Those first 2 seasons were successful, but his performance declined in 1997 and he was cut after that season. He played one game with the Buffalo Bills the following year before disappearing from professional football.
Ford had this to say about professional football: “NFL players are in the environment of the Roman Coliseum. Sacrificing takes place. It’s possible that I didn’t want to become a successful athlete because then I would have been sacrificed.”
He moved to Las Vegas in 2004 to pursue a lawsuit against the Mirage casino, demanding $5 million in damages for what he perceived as exploitation of athletes from profiting off sports betting. The lawsuit was dismissed.[1]
On September 21, 2004 police said that he fired a gun toward the house of entertainers Siegfried & Roy. Ford was arrested and charged with three counts of felony firearms charges.[2] At a January 2005 hearing, judge Jackie Glass ruled that Ford was incompetent to stand trial and ordered him sent to a state mental health facility to be evaluated. Ford argued that he was competent and wanted to plead guilty.[3]
According to a psychiatrist's evaluation after the shooting, Ford stated that he did not intend to harm the performers, but wanted to "warn the world of the illusionists' unhealthy danger to them and to animals". The psychiatrist, Norton Roitman, wrote that "While watching Siegfried and Roy, he had a sudden realization that what was wrong with the world was linked to the illusionists' treatment, dominance and unhealthy intimacy he saw them having with their animals." Ford told Roitman that he believed the performers had a sexual relationship with their animals and it was a factor in the development of the AIDS virus.[4]
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